Simple Algae Home CO2 Scrubber - Part II Algae Cultures and Breeding

Step 4 Building the culture incubator

This is used to keep the cultures in a warm, well lit environment free from contamination. The plastic "door" drops down to provide a shield and care should be taken. Okay, the world will not end if your algae culture is tainted or if the aseptic conditions are compromised. But what the heck if you're going to go through all this wash your hands and keep things covered as much as possible.


20 gallon aquarium (does not need to be watetight)
Heavyweight clear plastic
Strong Tape
Small lamp that can use up to 75-watt bulb
Thermometer (preferably in a clear plastic case)

Turn the aquarium so the opening faces the front instead of the top
Cut the plastic slightly wider than the opening and about 2 inches longer than the height of the opening
Tape the plastic to the top of the aquarium so that the plastic falls over the opening. This is the door
Place the lamp in the aquarium, letting the cord hang out the front
Place the thermometer in the aquarium so that you can read it without opening the "door"
Experiment with different sized bulbs until you find one that keeps the temperature around 70 degrees ( for algae breeding, for stock culture maintenance the algae is maintained at a lower temperature)

Okay, that' it. In the next step we're going to place some culture samples on the agar plates we created in the last step and place them in the incubator. After about 2-3 an algae culture should begin to be visible on the agar.